According to the Student’s Dictionary that my eldest nephew gave to me, love is defined as 1)a very strong warm feeling or deep concern for someone, commitment; 2) darling, sweetheart; 3) to feel passion, or a strong affection for someone or something.
We hear about what people are and aren’t willing to do for love, but do we ever really stop and think about it? Really, think about it?
I’m not going to go into all of the details and answers to my questions, I’m just going to tell a little story.
Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman who met and fell in love. They married and wanted to have children as many people who marry or love each other do. That was when things turned away from the normal narrative, or maybe they didn’t? After all, there is always a trial of some sort in every story.
They discovered that the lovely wife would more than likely be unable to have any children. The reason? She was only born with one kidney.
Kidneys do several things for each of our bodies that is very important. They help with the urinary system, blood pressure, electrolytes in the body and acid-base balance in the body. They are also a natural filter for our blood. All of these things are important when it comes to pregnancy as pregnancy is hard on the female body even though we’re also designed for it.
She went on to have three children anyway and everyone was happy and healthy. This first trial passed with flying colors and riding off into the sunset. Other trials come and go and they overcome them as in all modern fairy tales.
Except the real sunset wasn’t for several decades.
All children grown, the happy couple now face another trial, this one larger than others.
You see, the lovely wife’s only kidney is failing and none of her family are a match for transplant. She is on dialysis and they don’t know how long she will last while waiting for a compatible transplant. They didn’t know what to do.
One night, as the couple were sleeping, the husband had an idea. The next morning, he slipped out of the bed he’d shared with his wife without waking her up. He bought a sign and wrote on it “NEED KIDNEY 4 WIFE.” He then took to the streets.
With torn cartilage in his knee and in 97 degree weather, he walked 15 miles. People would stop and offer him money. He would reply, “I don’t want your money; I want your kidney.”
Local news station in South Carolina picked up on his story and 2,000 people called offering to help. These kind souls were referred to the hospital where the wife underwent dialysis, but were also not compatible. Many of them donated anyway, other people were still helped.
The husband took up his sign and went back to the streets. He walked another 54 miles and still no compatible donor was found. Other news stations and websites took interest and wrote about this story as well and finally, a compatible donor was found. 41-year-old heroine from Virginia Beach read such an article and offered. She was a match.
This story isn’t over, but it looks like it’s going to be a happily ever after.
One man loved his wife and wasn’t going to wait around when he could do something about it. Other people recognized this love and offered to help, and even when they couldn’t, they still wanted to help others who weren’t even in the story. A stranger from a different state wanted to help and was able to.
There are many types of love in this world. We are so privileged to be given these examples.
For more info on this story, here is the article that caught my attention: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=26909792&nid=1010&title=man-surprises-wife-by-walking-miles-to-find-her-a-kidney-donor
Breathing In 